Cheap Cute

My husband is a good find. He shops in the little girls section. He brings stuff home and says "I thought you could embellish it." Love him!

Here's what was originally a $4 PLAIN jean skirt he snatched from the Target clearance rack.
I did what he asked.



I just adore this red & white fabric. It's wild and spirited. I snipped bits of the subject matter out and fused them to the skirt. I then added some red, blue, pink, yellow, green & orange embroidered stitches. This was a great project to tote around with me, while my gal entertained herself with mud cupcakes outside. Oh & in front of the TV, while my husband watched something football related. Sigh.

The outcome isn't painfully girly. I like that.

My favorite part of the scene:

Less is more?

I've had this jacket on my brain for awhile. (this photo "borrowed" from Gap):
My Mom took Kenzie shopping not too long ago and we really liked all the new styles at Gap, sporting the "handmade" look. We did purchase a few of these goodies, but I became obsessed with doing the jacket - MYSELF. (I sound like a toddler, eh?)

The thing is...I can't find a plain jean jacket anywhere! So, I tripped over this one on the clearance rack at Wal-mart of all places for !!$3.00!! I still want to mimic the art on the jean jacket too, but I guess I'll have to be patient and wait until it's jean jacket season to buy one.

MY BARGAIN "BEFORE SHOT":


This little jacket was pretty cute all by itself. But, I jazzed it up with some ribbon trim and a little embellishment on the back. I intended to add some embroidery, but it's sat like this for a few days. Kenzie loves it, and now I'm inclined to leave it alone. That way the two jackets will have two distinct personalities, once I accomplish the Gap Blue-Jean Jacket Hack Job!

THE BARGAIN "AFTER SHOT":

Time management

I have no idea where this post will wander. It kind of feels like my more recent days...unorganized, just wandering through each one, trying to fit in as much as possible, before crashing into bed at night. Despite the lovely weather the past few days - I feel a little overwhelmed by life (for no good particular reason), while at the same being underwhelmed by the outcome of everyday. A good analogy -- I was just typing pretty quickly but watching the words form on the screen at a much slower pace. That's what yesterday felt like...and the previous few days too. Hmmn.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been struggling in the creative realm. I made a rhino for my daughter and despite the difficulty of creating a rhino out of painted fabric leaves - I FORGOT A HORN.

And, then...there is this shirred disaster:


Any wisdom as to what was done wrong? I've gone back and carefully reread about three tutorials and I did it -all. But, my stitches didn't bunch the fabric together. I moved ahead, as one tutorial said "not to worry! just pull the elastic at the end and make the shirring tighter." No such luck. My elastic is refusing to be pulled, and even breaking when I try to force it. I've spent two whole naptimes on this stupid little shirt that should have been a cinch. The only explanation that I have...is that the tension on my machine is broken?? Or maybe my thread choice was bad? I dunno. Anyway... Somehow, I'm going to make it work out, just because I liked the fabrics. I think I can creatively wrestle the elastic into a shirred mess, that will work for at least ONE wear. For craps sakes.



Do you ever find yourself at a park and absolutely BORED? A self portrait above to describe what I was trying to wrap my mind around, above. I adore being home with my daughter, I really do. But, at this moment - there are so many reports to be written (job), creations to be made (of course), chores (duh), and the day just melts away...while I'm taking pictures of myself at a farmstead.

Balance. I need to create it. Got any tips to end this moaning?

Birthday Skirt

Birthday Skirt
Originally uploaded by mama's doodles.

Today is my birthday (33!!!) and we're headed out to a celebratory dinner. I'm happy to report I've been very spoiled today and have a spa visit in my future! I smell good, I've got new clothes to wear, flowers on my counter, and I even slept in until 8:00. My husband whizzed Kenzie out for a donut before I even heard her awake. She came back a whirlwind of sugarified energy - but I'm not complaining.

To dinner, I have no idea what Mama is going to wear - but Kenzie is wearing this. It's another skirt, made of recycled bits of my clothing (and other fabrics). No pattern, only the imagination to follow. She'll be adorable in it, but is still snoozing away.

The back is a replica of the front, minus the sash bit. The button is a vintage button I've been hoarding for awhile. Guess I've got Fall colors on my mind lately....

Blogger wasn't cooperating today (imagine that), so I outsmarted it by going through flickr!!!

Re-constructed Clothing

Did I need to? Nope. Did I do it anyway? Duh.

I was sorting through some clothes of mine. Ahem, they were the wrong size, but good fabrics. Had all kinds of crazy visions for what I can do with the fabric, and somehow went into a manic sewing frenzy over the past two nap-times. Now, the gal has two new skirts.

One, is a skirt bottom of mine, that I liked - except for the way that it's been too snug on my hips since the baby making days. I cut the bottom off a skirt, sewed in a new elastic band. And four minutes later - poof! A new skirt for the toddler girl. It's not my favorite of the two new ones though, and it's actually in the gal's closet - who is napping now. So, no pics available. It could have been much cuter, had I given it a bit more than four minutes of time. But such an instant gratification project.

But, this one is really cute! I used Lyn, of Mollychicken's idea for using up leftover bits of material, and I made a piecy front to it. Then, I dismantled another of MY skirts (that I had actually constructed from a too tight pair of jeans a few years ago right after Kenzie was born!) and cut away bits of the jean material to form the skirt. I made this:

The front:


Lots of raw edges here, so I tossed it in the dryer to encourage the fraying and Voila!!! It's a frayed mess and I love it.

The back:


Close-up of the pieced bits of scrap materials, which I mindlessly sewed into place:


Can't wait to toss it on the toddler and strut her about. Excuse the photos. It's a lousy overcast day, and as aforementioned, no live models were awake!

Pillowcase abuse

Oops. I did it again.
Ran into another pillowcase, obnoxiously decorated it. Now it's a dress.

Kenzie loves a good dress, which she feels immediately makes her a princess!! or a ballerina!! .. and she adores a few shirts that have bugs/animals on them, so I just thought...that this might appeal to her. Can you see the look of unbridled enthusiasm on that little head (below)? One has to wonder if she'll have any residual effects of the clothing abuse I've inflicted upon her lately. Last year it was my wonky clown looking pants. This year, she'll be dressed all in pillowcases? Probably not, but sheesh, how about a little "range" within my productions? I trip over a cute idea and it seems I've got to run it.. into.. the ground.
Too bad, I'm not done with this one yet. :)



I love the flowers on the bottom. I have two more cases that were given to me by a friend, and I also owe a friend a dress - so I think I'll simplify the next one --just some ribbon and flowers along the bottom. The bird is cute, but I think it's a bit much. (I think Kenzie agrees).

Pillowcase Dress!

Today, while my kid was doing this (and therefore -A.B.S.O.L.U.T.E.L.Y. refusing to model for me):


I took two bad pictures of this:




Long story short - a neighbor has a daughter who was wearing the most darling dress the other day. Upon inspection, it was a lovely white fabric with really cute embroidered flowers and butterflies at the bottom. The Mama tells me that a friend bought it for her daughter, but that it was made from a vintage pillowcase!! After seeing the adorable thing, I immediately exclaim that I can make that (the neighbors probably aren't aware of my artsy-crafty nature yet...they just see "me" as someone who stands outdoors with their kid most of the day) and proclaim that I'll be searching for vintage pillowcases now so I can make some. I've done a couple of searches on e-bay and walked away as damn, they can be expensive.

Another neighbor who is a garage-sale fanatic turns up yesterday with four pillowcases for me. Very sweet of her. But, they were all plain (two pale yellow. two dark blue (which are identical to some that I. have. on. one. of. my. beds.) And, they weren't old. No worries, I thought. I've got to be polite and do something with them. And, I can just embellish to the hilt to make them sweetly less pillowcase like, eh? So, this little result was really just a fiddle with fit, size, and pattern-making.

I've tried it on Kenzie and it's quite cute...and doesn't resemble a pillow-case at all. I just added ribbons, and decorative stitching to this one. The next one, a blue case - I'm envisioning flowers at the bottom, and a bird flying around the middle of the dress in the blue sky. I'll start that one next week -- around wrestling the wallpaper in the bathroom for the second week of Kenzie naps in a row. It's not giving up without a fight and is officially the worst wall-papered monstrosity I've ever run across. (wallpaper is directly on the dry wall, so it's not a clean seperation. Thankfully, I was planning to texturize the walls anyway. How did I start talking about wallpaper when I'm discussing pillowcases??? Enough rambling... More pillow case dresses to follow! And hopefully, I'll still love them when some vintage ones become available to me!!)

Artsy-Crafty Baby

Beki of Artsy-Crafty Babe birthed a darling little girl--Ava. I've enjoyed Beki's blog, and even some assistance on craft projects in the past so I sent a little handmade gift.

I'm never terribly practical so I made a little bib and burp cloth, embellished to the hilt. Maybe she'll have a fine-dining outing that requires such a concoction...?
The bib:

The burp cloth:


It was the sneak peak shown below, of course....

Swimsuit cover up - slash - dress..

I am hurriedly posting pictures because being the neurotic crafter that I am - a project does not feel complete until it's posted on the blog. I need meds.

I had this spontaneous thought to make Kenzie a swimsuit cover up as our neighborhood pool is opening soon. So, without a pattern, I created this reversible concoction during her nap today. I have a pink aversion, but was astonished when half way through the stupid thing I thought "What's up with the (HOT) pink???"

The front:

The back:


A close up of one side. The reverse is the same color, but a different pattern. I thought my idea was brilliant, as Kenzie can make a mess of an outfit in 2.4 seconds. Turn this baby inside out and Voila!! She's fresh!



My model was not cooperating and it's too windy outside to photograph out there - so here's the shots:
The uncooperative model (with bed-head!):



I think we'll be using this with the swim gear as originally intended. It will also look darling with some pigtails, and layered over a pair of pants and T-shirt. I love little girls in layers. I think I'll make more, but next time - I'll tone down the color a bit!

A jaunty little cap

Excuse the crap photos with no model (*who's napping right now), but I've just made this jaunty little cap for Kenzie. Andi of Superminx was so kind as to send me instructions for making this after I'd admired several of her productions. I just love this style of cap!!

I love to wear hats myself (i.e. bad hair days) and Kenzie is notorious for snatching them off of my head and slapping them on her own. I'm interested in making her a few of these, as well as adjusting the pattern for my own few. This actually turned out similarly to one that I purchased from Urban Outfitters for a whole bunch o' money!! (and I totally used what I had, so it didn't cost me one extra cent to create this).


Andi's one of my favorite blog-friends - and she's super generous with her ideas. Amazing I tell ya - the people you can connect with through this crafty little bloggy community! Love it!

Sewing Mania

My husband is skiing in Colorado this weekend, and the girl hits the sack at 8:00ish - so I pulled out some leftover fabrics in honor of "Use what you have" Month and created a new spring clothing line for my daughter:

I made a complete outfit...the pants from scratch...and the shirt an embellished store-bought tee


Finally, I used fabric scraps to embellish two other store-bought tees.


All items were from our stash (including the tees, which were bought a while ago by Kenzie's Nana).

Embellishing...

Embellishments for Girl's shirts
Originally uploaded by mama's doodles.

My daughter is having a Christmas picture taken with her four nieces. I made these to embellish the plain white turtlenecks that they will be wearing in the photo.

Some will be placed on the chest area..and others will be adhered to the bottom area of the shirts.

This is one of the last minute craft projects that I had on my agenda. Another is mid-stream and I'm still wondering....if it will turn out as expected. Chalkboard placemats!!

Flowers, Flowers...Everywhere!

Wondering what else I can adhere a flower too lately. Here's a shirt for my daughter that I just finished last night. She'll be taking a photo with her neices over Christmas and I'm planning to make a coordinating (but different) shirt for all five of them.

It's simple, but fairly darling, if I must say so myself. I thought about adding stitching around the neck and sleeve holes, but opted to keep it simple and avoid the risk of strangling the poor child with permanently too tight openings. That's a kind and thoughtful Mama, eh???

Flowers and Hats...

I finally did as intended and mounted two of my little flowers on stocking caps --- intended for me. ME. Me. As you can see, my daughter however has already found them new owners. On an adult sized head, they look really cool positioned off on the side of the head.

So tonight, I commence with more ideas for them. Kids need their own stinking hats so that they keep their mitts off of mine. I plan to make a cuter smaller girlier version for Kenzie -- with a flower plopped right on stinking top. And, then, I'm gonna make some more. I figure while I'm at it, I'll make some for babies with animals instead of flowers. (got a few gifties to come up with). That's a lofty goal for an evening which has already been ticking away as I type this...

More flowers...

scan_5112781613_1
Originally uploaded by mama's doodles.

Ah geesh. I think these are fun and I'm coming up with way too many ideas for them.

Pillows, book covers, bags, hats.
I think I've gotten this little urge out of my system now.
Maybe...maybe not.

I may need to make some for child-sized clothes. I may need to make a more heavily embellished and fancier version.

I'm an instant gratification kind of gal, and these lend themselves well to that feeling of accomplishment...

Sewing & More Sewing

THIS is how much I love my new sewing machine...

Two new pants for Kenzie - of my own wonky design...

Baby needs some new clothes....

Here's my latest creation - a darling outfit for Kenzie. Once I get the little critter in it - maybe this Saturday?? - I'll post her modeling it...